Atlantis Takes Off for Columbus Air Force Base

Space shuttle Atlantis is on its way to its second stop today in its cross-country ferry flight, Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Atlantis and its modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft departed Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas at about 12:37 p.m. EDT (11:37 a.m. CDT). The flight is expected to take about two hours.

Once Atlantis gets to Columbus Air Force Base managers will assess the weather and determine what the best route is to arrive at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida this evening.

It’s so much fun to check in and hear updates about the shuttle’s journey home to KSC. Where is the best place online to look for up to date arrival time info? I want to be certain I’m parked on the beach when the shuttle goes by tonight.

You should be able to pretty accurately predict where the Ferry flight will be “viewable” from the flight tracker software. Someone posted the link, but here it is again. It is something to see, that’s for sure!

Thanks so much. I’ve never been on this site before. I see the arrival time, but it’s not showing the actual path of the shuttle. Perhaps they disable that function for NASA flights because of security.